Respawn has been very good about bringing fans of Titanfall 2 great new content for free, especially in the last couple of months. The “Monarch’s Reign” introduced the latest playable Titan in the games multiplayer, the Monarch. Then came another DLC which reintroduced a third weapon slot and more maps into the game called “The War Games“. Now, the latest update called Operation Frontier Shield is here for Titanfall 2 bringing with it more new maps, new cosmetics, and most importantly, the new Frontier Defense mode.

Frontier Defense is a four person cooperative Horde Mode which tasks players with the defense of their Harvester over the course of the match. Enemies will be sent out against the team of players in increasingly difficult waves. Upon completing matches, players gain rewards and experience towards the games new mode-exclusive ranking system called Aegis which will allow players to unlock additional upgrades for their Titans. Currently there are only five maps available for the horde mode in Operation Frontier Shield, however Respawn hopes to add more in future updates.

New Warpaints can be purchased for $4.99 each or $24.99 as a bundle which will allow players to use new cosmetic options that will also grant players bonus Aegis XP. However, the Warpaints will only be available until August 28th, this will also include the Elite Weapon Warpaints also set at the same price as the standard versions. These weapon skins will give players a 10% chance to earn a 2x XP token per weapon owned. Players will also gain an extra merit for the player and each teammate upon completion of a match, but can only receive this bonus once per match.

The new maps of Titanfall 2 include Rise, which is a remake of the map of the same name from the first game and Township, which will be a Live-Fire map in a residential area with little cover. Rise contains long sightlines and close quarters, it will also be one of the five maps included in the games Frontier Defense mode.

Titanfall 2 will soon be making it’s way to EA Origins/ Access along with various other great titles. Will you be trying out the new Horde Mode? Let us know your thoughts on Operation Frontier Shield and more in the comments section below. As always, don’t forget to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter for 24/7 coverage of all things gaming and entertainment.

Full Patch Notes Via Respawn Below:

NEW CONTENT [FREE]

NEW MODE: Frontier Defense!

• Co-op 4 player mode.
• Davis and Droz of the Last Resort faction will be guiding you through the waves. They are unique to Frontier Defense mode and your earned merits will still apply to whatever MP Faction you have selected.
• Defend your Harvester against 5 waves of increasingly difficult enemies.
• The Titan you pick at the start is locked for the rest of the match.
• Earn cash for defeating enemies that you can spend in between waves to purchase tools at the Armory.
• Choose from Easy / Regular / Hard / Master difficulty.
• There will be an Insane difficulty as well that will exist in a separate tile as a Featured Mode.
• New Titan Progression – ‘Aegis Ranks’
• Earn Aegis Ranks by completing matches of Frontier Defense. Aegis Ranks can unlock powerful upgrades for your Titans, helping you succeed at higher difficulty levels. For now these Ranks will only apply to Frontier Defense.
• 5 maps supported at launch

Homestead
Forwardbase Kodai
War Games
Rise
Blackwater Canal

• We are currently testing additional maps and will add more in future

• “Classic Music” option will unlock Titanfall 1 lobby music and Frontier Defense music. [Win 10 matches of Frontier Defense to access]

NEW MAP: Rise
Long sight lines and tight quarters dictate the battle in this abandoned desert reservoir. The towering, sheer walls and a system of convenient zip lines provide Pilots with means to get around quickly while Titans do battle in the long corridors below. Pilots can also set up ambushes in the guts of this complex pipeworks, while titans can lock down large sections of the battlefield at critical junctures. Tread carefully.

NEW LIVE FIRE MAP: Township
A new modular construction of a residential firefight. Cover is sparse for Pilots bold enough to leave the safety of a few houses. Windows and rooftops decide who controls the map, but dense interiors can always hold surprises.

NEW CONTENT [PURCHASABLE]

ELITE WEAPON WARPAINTS
PRICE: $4.99 each // $24.99 bundle for all [bundle only available until 8.28.2017]

• G2A5 “MASTERWORK ELITE”
• ALTERNATOR “FRONTIER PATRIOT ELITE”
• B3 WINGMAN “AQUA FADE ELITE”
• ARCHER “PHANTOM ELITE”
• CAR “CRIMSON FURY ELITE”
• R-201 CARBINE “UNDERGROUND ELITE”
• EVA-8 AUTO SHOTGUN “BADLANDS ELITE”
• FLATLINE “BLUE FADE ELITE”

TITAN WARPAINTS [LIMITED EDITION – CAN ONLY BUY UNTIL 8.28.2017]: Grants bonus Aegis XP to you and your teammates at the completion of a Frontier Defense match when this skin is equipped. This boost will be increased with each team member that also has the warpaint meaning you can earn up to 4x Aegis XP bonus. Warpaint also includes an additional shoulder arm plate with scaling iconography based on hardest Frontier Defense difficulty completed with that titan. The Warpaint also grants a special call sign with scaling iconography based on the hardest Frontier Defense difficulty completed with that titan.

PRICE: $4.99 each // $24.99 bundle for all

GAME IMPROVEMENTS

• Added more out of bounds triggers to Complex.
• New stats page for maps, including tracking of Frontier Defense difficulty levels.
• Visual improvements for Weapon and Titan stats pages.

TITAN BALANCE

General

• Ogre class Titans now have a baseline of 1 dash with a 10 second cooldown.
• Turbo Engine will now reduce cool down of Scorch and Legion’s dashes to 5 seconds. It will still behave the same as before for other Titan classes.
• Overcore now gives 20% core meter.
• Electric Smoke unlocks at 20% instead of 25%.

Ronin

• Sword Block damage reduction reduced by 5%.

Scorch

• Scorch will now have 1 dash charge with a 10 second cooldown.
• Increased Firewall’s width.
• Scorch Kits
• Wildfire Launcher now increases the direct-hit damage of the Thermite Launcher. It still increases the amount of fire spread.
• Scorched Earth’s lingering fire lasts longer.
• Tempered Plating now makes Scorch immune to crits and his own thermite damage.
• Fixed a bug with Flame Core not igniting Incendiary Traps.

Legion

• Legion will now have 1 dash charge with a 10 second cooldown.
• Hidden Compartment: Power Shot has two charges and Power Shot damage is reduced by 15%.

Monarch

• XO-16 base magazine size increased to 40 rounds.
• Reduced the strength of the slow effect of Energy Siphon.
• Slightly reduced effectiveness of Arc Rounds against Vortex Shield and Heat Shield.
• Multi-Target Missile System no longer locks onto cloaked targets.

PILOT BALANCE

General

• Aim Assist settings have been modified for Assault Rifles and SMGs.
• ARs and SMGs require you to be aiming closer to your target before any ADS assist takes effect.
• Reduced the overall effectiveness of ADS assist for Assault Rifles.
• Titan Hunter kit modified to be 10% extra Titan meter from damage instead of 10% Titan Meter on Titan Kill.

Phase Shift

• Now has just 1 charge, but recharges faster.

SMG’s

• Medium and long damage significantly reduced.
• One of the positive changes we saw in the High TTK playlist was the increase of weapon diversity. It is our hope that between the Aim Assist nerf and this SMG nerf, we’ll see weapon diversity increased across all three platforms.

G2

• Reduced fire rate.

DMR

• Reduced fire rate: In this particular instance, we felt that the reduced fire rate simply made the gun feel better since the gun stabilizes better between shots.

Flatline

• Slightly reduced damage at medium range. It still has the best medium range damage of any Assault Rifle.

Archer

• No longer locks onto cloaked targets.

Smart Pistol

• No longer locks onto cloaked targets.

Sidearms

• High TTK playlist changes for the P2016, Wingman, Wingman Elite, and Mozambique have been brought over to bring their power level down now that all Pilots can carry a secondary weapon.

Melee

• Lunge time and melee hit frames changed to .3 seconds from .2 seconds. This will help people firing weapons, particularly automatic weapons, get extra shots in before the lunge completes.
• Melee lunge range reduced.
• Non-lunge melee attack range increased. This will help with the cases where melee looks like it should hit but doesn’t connect with the target.

GAME MODE ADJUSTMENTS:

• Various improvements to the UI for Private Match, including increased visibility of text chat on PC.

MISC BUG FIXES

• Fixed issues with purchasable Nose Arts not showing up correctly on Titans.
• Spectators in Marked for Death can no longer be marked for death.
• (Xbox One) Buttons and pod doors in War Games intro sequence now play at the correct volume.
• Titan Nose Arts flagged as Advocate Gift unlocks may now actually be awarded when opening Advocate Gifts.